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Perfect Valentine’s Pairings

My fiancée and I have enjoyed cooking many memorable meals together. This is one of the things that drew us together. We both appreciate taking the time to cook for the ones you love. And, marking those meals with a bottle of wine that you can recall years after you had the meal makes it that much more special. I can remember one of the first meals we had together.

Elizabeth prepared a slow cooked lamb shoulder seasoned with black pepper and rosemary. It was cooked perfectly. She paired it with a Northern Rhone Syrah and it went together naturally. Since then, we have had lamb cooked in many different ways. Don’t be afraid to cook something unknown to you. After the first time, you get more confident and it can be a real enjoyment to experiment and try new things. You could even try a duck breast with smoked tea!

I remember this meal well. We cooked two duck breasts seasoned with Lapsang Souchong smoked tea. We put the tea in a spice grinder along with some white rice and turned it into a powder so that it would adhere to the duck more easily. We enjoyed this with a bottle of Russian River Valley Pinot Noir that was not over ripe and had good acidity. I had never cooked duck before this meal. Again, the first step in cooking is always the most intimidating. I bounce a lot of ideas for meals and wine pairings off of friends to get feedback and more perspective.

This last pairing I think might be my favorite. Seared scallops with an orange ginger glaze with mangos and pumpkin seeds on a bed of lettuce. A simple dish prepared quite quickly. Searing the scallops is the only cooking involved, once you get that you could substitute any number of ingredients and keep the scallop as the main focus. With our preparation we had a white wine from Santa Barbara County that uses the varieties typical in white Bordeaux, Semillon and Sauvignon Blanc. Truly a dish I will not forget.

All of these recipes were borrowed from cookbooks, chefs, friends of mine or searching the endless reading you can find on the internet. Over the last five or six years we have gotten better and better at pairing wine with food for that special occasion. Just remember, this is supposed to be fun! So don’t feel intimidated, instead look at it as a fun and enjoyable way to spend time with that special someone.